Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain Park

Hwy. 78, Stone Mountain 770-498-5702

The 3,200-acre Stone Mountain State Park
features the world's largest carving, a memorial to three heroes of the Confederacy,
Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas
J. "Stonewall" Jackson. The carving, larger than Mount Rushmore, took
more than 57 years and three main carvers to complete, from conception to finishing
touches, due to delays and lack of funds. Started by Gutzon Borglum, the carver
of Rushmore, disputes between him and the monument association ended his commission.
In 1958, the state took over the project which was eventually completed in 1972.
The carving is much larger than it appears: sculptors could stand inside a horse's
mount to escape a sudden shower. Also at the Park is Memorial Hall museum,
which contains one of the largest Civil War exhibits in the state. At Confederate
Hall is a huge diorama explaining Civil War
events in Georgia and statues of famous Confederates.
You can walk to the top of the mountain from Confederate Hall or take a tram
near Memorial Hall. Also found at the park is an old grist mill and an authentic
antebellum plantation complex consisting of 19 restored buildings. The Park
offers golfing, lodging, conference center, camping, fishing, swimming, and
watersliding. Stone Mountain's Antebellum Festival, held each year on the last
weekend in March, features a Civil War encampment and reenactment. In nearby
Stone Mountain Village is Stone Mountain Confederate Cemetery
with the graves of approximately 150 Confederate soldiers, who died in nearby
hospitals or were killed in a skirmish with Federal raiders under Gen. Kenner
Garrard who destroyed the railroad here on July 18-19, 1864.